About Me

I'm a mom with two teens, finding the time to create every day. I love color, whimsy, liberated quilting, soothing hand knits and now handspinning! I love to read all my comments, but don't always have time to answer them. Please know that I appreciate each and every one. Please do not use my words or photos without my permission. Thank you for visiting!

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December 21, 2009

Last week we had took a trip to Atlanta for a very special reason. Unfortunately, I can't divulge that reason just yet, but I did want to show some photos of our search for Christmas. The city didn't seem to be much in the spirit, but we did find some pockets of festive sights.

These are at the Coca-Cola museum, which has a lot of Christmas themed exhibits. I think this Santa would fit right in my carved Santa collection.

We had the most fun on this street in the Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead. I didn't catch the name of this street, but it must be pretty famous what with all the incredible mansions lining the street. We were amused by the over-the-top decorated mailboxes. I don't know that I've ever seen a Christmas decorated mailbox in our neck of the woods. Each one was better than the last!

This mansion has to be the pinnacle though. It looks so stately.

On our last evening we splurged on a night out at the fabulous Fox theatre for an Atlanta Ballet production of The Nutcracker. This theatre is just gorgeous- definitely worth taking time to see. The production was just what we needed to feel in the Christmas spirit.

These last two photos are here at home today. Ryan and his friends decorated and devoured our Solstice cake. Another trip around the sun. Hope you all had a lovely day too!

My sister and her husband are here for Christmas. They are staying with my parents, but we'll be doing a lot of activities with them throughout the week. Today we all headed to the Sunriver Resort's Gingerbread Junction to see the amazing houses. The one above was on a swivel, so when it was turned you could see the amazing artistry on the inside.

This is all created with fondant!

The next one is the story of the three pigs and if you look closely at the tree on the right you can see the big, bad wolf trying to sneak his way in!

I love this tree house below.

If you are a fan of the movie, "A Christmas Story", you'll love this next house. All the details are there!

The boy with his tongue stuck to the pole, the little brother in the huge snow suit.

There's Ralphie fighting the robbers and the pink bunny suit. The green stuff is a bit of the siding falling off. That's what you get when you wait too long to see the display.

And the piece de resistance- the leg lamp. That was a fun little outing and afterwards we had a nice dinner at our house. We've got more plans for the week, including a little snow play, some shop hopping and the usual Christmas Eve, Christmas Day activities. More to come later!

October 25, 2009

We just got back from a day in the Hood River Valley- the so-called Hood River Fruit Loop. It sprinkled a bit and was cloudy and cold, but that didn't stop us from having fun. At our first stop, Kiyokawa Orchards we had a picnic and took a hay ride. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great year for apples, so they had a smaller harvest than normal and the u-pick trees were picked clean.

The bins in the fruit stand were full and after an apple tasting I picked a big box of apples for sauce, baking and eating fresh. They grow over 80 different varieties of apples and pears, so we had a lot to choose from. We started our apple day by sharing a couple of delicious apple turnovers.

Our next stop was the Apple Valley Country Store where we watched them making apple butter on an outdoor fire. We also sampled some bisquits and fresh apple butter- yum! This is a favorite stop because they have a huge selection of delicious foods including home baked pies and all sorts of jams to taste.

Then we went to the other side of the valley to see the Gorge White House. I'd been curious about this one on past drives through the valley. The u-cut flower garden was past time, but I'll bet it's gorgeous in the spring and summer.

Next stop, Rasmussen's Farms, which had a corn maize, pumpkin patch and the Pumpkin Funland. Here we got a bag of fresh walnuts ready to be cracked. The kids have had fun with them since we got home. Who would've thought cracking walnuts would be such entertainment?

Last stop was Draper Girls Country Farm for cider doughnuts and hot cider. We got some more apples here too because they had a variety called Christmas. The kids got one last swing in and we hit the road for home. What a delicious day! We'll be cooking up apples for a few weeks and hopefully have enough apple sauce to carry us through until next fall and more apple days!

October 01, 2009

One of the things keeping me busy lately is spinning and pursuit of the lovely fibers to spin. In August I was able to attend a couple of spin-ins with friends in Sunriver at Pam's Wild & Wooly booth.

On the last day we had a potluck including the delicious cake above made by Pam's daughter.

In early September I went to the little wool gathering in Shaniko. This tiny town in northern Oregon used to be the Wool Capital of the World! Now it's very small, but everyone comes out for the wool gathering.

These hats are totally cool. Can you imagine wearing that bunch of hair on top of your head?

The other day I got to go to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun. I kept forgetting to get my camera from the car so I didn't take a single photo. Horrors! I did get what I went for though- a WooLee Winder (below) which, I predict, will change my spinning life for the better and several beautiful batts to spin. Below are photos of some of the goodies I came home with.

WooLee Winder and a gorgeous batt from Lisa Souza.

The large size basket sold by Kruger Farms. These were selling like hotcakes. The kate and everything inside I alreadyhad. This will accompany my wheel and I where ever we go.

My very own Uzbek Leyla, she is felted by artists in Kyrgyzstan. Check out the vendor here.

I also went back to Sweet Grass Wool for another braid of merino/silk. I decided to pair it with a solid merino roving by Ashland Bay.

OFFF is a very different festival than Black Sheep, but they are both wonderful. I was thinking I'd settle on a favorite and only need to set aside time for one, but I don't think I can. The only problem with OFFF is that it's on Ryan's birthday next year. I will try to get back though and to make time to sit and spin under the big tree.

September 25, 2009

Today was Ryan's birthday! Since my last post we've had Labor Day weekend, a week at the Oregon coast and a week of various birthday activities. We've also had a visit from Mark's brother, a fiber gathering, a quilting class, a mom's night out and various other evening activities! It's been some month!

For now I'll recount the birthday activities this week. It started with a birthday sleepover with some good friends. It was a Redwall party. Redwall is Ryan's favorite series now and we are in the midst of book 4. Chloe made this fantastic banner for the door (it's now on the wall over Ryan's bed). The boys took the theme to heart and staged a siege.

There was much feasting and carrying on with the delicious Redwall menu Chloe made based on the Redwall Cookbook (including the delicious cake above).

Ryan was totally thrilled with the beautiful sword handmade by Mark and painted by Chloe. "I am that is", is a famous phrase from the book.

Today we had a different celebration at the park with our homeschool friends. Chloe and Ryan decorated a whole lot of cupcakes this morning.

Later on we went out to dinner to round off the day. More to come on our other activities and perhaps even some fiber arts. This weekend is busy again with an event with Chloe's Venturing group and then Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival on Sunday, but I'll be back soon!

August 02, 2009

It's my Dad's birthday today! Hope you have a great one Dad! My Dad is the one who got us all into hiking and camping. A few years ago he rode his bike across the US, accumulating 4000 miles on the odometer.

Mom and Dad have just started a trip to Alaska in their RV. It should be quite an adventure for them. My dad did have a chance to squeeze in some wins at the county fair before leaving. He had 4 first prizes and it shows he must be a pretty good cook.

This is the Santa he carved for me in 2007.

He made whole wheat bread.

And two kinds of jam.

Chloe and I didn't quite live up to his four blue ribbons, but we had our own successes as well.

My shawl (draped on the mannikin inside out- I wonder if knitters were arranging things) placed third. You can also see a peak of my friend, Sarah's, vest to the right. She got second place in the same category which included shells, stoles and vests. I couldn't believe they didn't have a category just for shawls.

My liberated batik quilt got first in the machine quilting category. That did surprise me because there was a pretty big field in the category.

Chloe got a second for this mixed media wintry scene.

She also got a second for this digital art.

And a second for her knitted blanket for Scrabble. Congratulations to Dad and Chloe for a job well done!

All in all it was a very satisfactory Fair year. We are already making plans for next year!

February 17, 2009

Recently I got the 25th anniversary edition of The Tassajara Bread Book. I've been baking bread for at least as long as this book has been published, I knew of it, but had never seen it, let alone used it. I have to say though, after trying the basic first recipe, that I think it's pretty amazing. The bread recipe uses a sponge method and explains why it's recommended. I'd heard of the sponge method, but didn't know why you'd want to do it. Anyway, the most important thing is the bread is fantastic! I can't wait to try more recipes here! I've heard the biscuits are fabulous!

December 26, 2008

Chloe knitted this blanket for Scrabble with leftover yarns and no planning. She just created squares and rectangles as she went along and sewed them together. She tried out her first cables and decided she likes doing moss stitch!

Chloe carved me another Santa! I love this one so much. It's really tiny- less than 2" tall. As you can see, Chloe is all about the detail.

Chloe made Ryan a new Ryan's Taco Truck story. In addition to writing and illustrating the story, she made an audio version for his iPod.

Ryan made this sweet little pot for me. It's such a treat to get something handmade from him since I know he isn't such a crafty guy.

Chloe made this octopus for herself in just a few days. It's made with some leftover Noro Silk Garden. She made up the pattern as she went along. As you can probably guess, she doesn't like to follow patterns! By the way, a squid is in the offing too.

More Silk Garden in the form of mitts. Chloe asked me to make these so I designed them on the fly while we were on our trip.

The second Noro Silk Garden Stripes Scarf. I gathered some leftover bits of Noro as we headed out the door and put this together on our trip.

Kitty Christmas made for my sister and her husband for Christmas. It's hand quilted.

And finally, just for Tonya. Some beautiful Christmas chocolates seen in downtown Portland.

September 04, 2008

May 20, 2008

I just got home to a fabulous prize in the mail. A few weeks ago, through the grapevine, I heard about a blog contest at Hither and Yarn. For the contest you had to donate to one of four charities and then be entered to win a skein of yarn. I chose to donate to Knitters for Knockers- a team doing a Komen Race for the Cure in Richmond, VA. Well, when Cathy let me know I was a winner I was thrilled! I wasn't expecting all the other goodies, but just look at what Cathy sent! The beautiful Doctors without Borders colorway of sport weight sock yarn from The Unique Sheep, lavendar soap, a nifty little notebook, shea butter, caramel popcorn, chocolate covered cherries and a bar of Green & Black's chocolate! I think she has my number. Cathy even sent one of her moo cards! I have a few that I made, but have never gotten one from someone else. Thank you so much, Cathy! I'll put the yarn to good use and the goodies will disappear quickly I'm sure. Be sure to check out Cathy's blog, there are all sorts of neat things to read about there. I'm heading to Portland for a week tomorrow, so don't expect me back til late next week. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!